Into the ever more crowded Android Tablet PC space comes the Giada T730, a 7-incher that has very typical hardware specifications. But before we delve into that, let’s look at the company behind that name.
The Giada brand name is the property of Shenzhen Jiehe Technology Development Co. Ltd., which was established in 2004. The company manufactures all sorts of tech-related products, from display panels, LED diodes to LED displays. Under the Giada stable, it specialises in Mini PCs, whether for the home (as home theater PCs) or for commercial use (digital signage solutions).
Inside the T730
Okay, back to the T730, which is one of three Tablet PCs that Giada offers. The T730 features a RockChip RK3066/ARM Cortex A9 dual-core processor which runs at 1.5GHz. There’s 1GB of DDR3 RAM and 8GB of NAND Flash for storage. The screen is a 7-inch IPS panel which has a native resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels and there’s dual cameras – a VGA (0.3MP) front facing and a 2MP rear camera. There’s a microSD card slot as well as a micro-HDMI connector. The T730 comes preinstalled with Android 4.1.1 and there doesn’t seem to be any updates for any of its tablets, which isn’t a very good sign.
Other standard stuff include 802.11b/g/n Wireless networking, as well as a Bluetooth radio. The screen has a 5-point multi-touch capability, which is fine for a tablet this size.
Better Than Average
In terms of build quality, the T730 looks relatively better than many of the generic tablets out there. The white/silver bezel is reminiscent of a competing Korean product, but to be fair, all tablets look very similar anyway. The tablet has a native landscape orientation (the front facing camera is on the longer edge) and most of the ports are on the right side. These include the headphone jack, the charging port, Micro USB, Mini HDMI and a MicroSD/TF card slot. My only gripe here is the need to use a USB to 2.5mm charging cable; why can’t the T730 get its charge via the Micro USB port? Having to carry an additional cable is a hassle, not to mention the risk of losing it.
There’s Still Life in Dual-Cores
In terms of performance, the RockChip RK3066 performs rather admirably for a dual core CPU, posting scores of 10576 in AnTuTu and 898 in Geekbench 2. The T730 can hold its own even against quad-core tablets like Acer’s A110 (Tegra 3 @ 1.2GHz) or ASUS’ Transformer PAD TF300T (Tegra 3 @ 1.5GHz). Overall, the unit is very responsive and all of the common Android games play without any problem. Video playback is smooth and it’s easy to hook up a flat panel display for optimum enjoyment. Having said that however, don’t expect to be able to decode large MKVs, particularly anything more than 2000 Kbps or thereabouts.
Updates? Don’t Hold Your Breath…
The 4.1.1 Android OS is not too old a build, although we’re not expecting Giada to release any updates for any of its Android tablets. That is a major issue for the majority of Android-based phones and tablets; vendors just can’t be bothered to update their devices. The T730 comes with some basic widgets, which is fine by me; I’d rather download my own widgets rather than deal with a whole bunch of bloatware.
At the recommended retail price of US$209 (which is around RM680), the Giada T730 is slightly pricey considering the fact that ASUS, ACER and many other more well-known brands are flogging their 7″ tablets for slightly less than that. But of course, dealers may opt to sell it for less than that so if you can find one for around RM550 – RM600, I’d consider that a reasonable price for what you’re getting.
